Trial ordered for man accused of attempted car theft in Lansdale

LANSDALE >> A 20-year-old man arrested last month for allegedly trying to steal a Lansdale man’s BMW automobile while drunk and taking three dollars in quarters from the vehicle is headed for trial on several charges after a preliminary hearing in the matter.

Maxwell Joseph Liebsch — who has no fixed address, according to court documents — appeared before Lansdale District Judge Edward Levine, who held for trial one count of third-degree felony theft of movable property, misdemeanor counts of theft from a motor vehicle and receiving stolen property, and summary public drunkenness, records show.

Prosecutors withdrew a summary charge related to the consumption of alcohol by a minor.

Borough police have said in an affidavit of probable cause that shortly before midnight on March 24, a man called to report that an individual had tried to steal his BMW on the 600 block of South Broad Street while he was bringing groceries inside his residence. The suspect — later identified as Liebsch — had backed up into a snowbank and the car’s wheels began to spin, so Liebsch jumped out of the BMW, and when the owner yelled at him from a window, Liebsch allegedly replied, “Is this your vehicle? Sorry,” before walking off, according to the affidavit.

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The car’s owner found that between $3-4 worth of quarters that had been in a cup holder inside the vehicle was missing, police said.

The owner provided a description of the suspect, as did two other witnesses, and Liebsch was soon located and taken into custody, the affidavit indicates.

During the arrest, Liebsch showed several signs of being drunk, and a portable breath test showed that his blood alcohol content was .16 percent, according to court documents. Liebsch was positively identified as the would-be car thief by the BMW owner and one of the witnesses, police said.

Cops found $3 in quarters in Liebsch’s pocket and the coins were seized as evidence, according to the affidavit.

Liebsch is currently incarcerated at Montgomery County Correctional Facility in lieu of $5,000 cash bail — which was reduced from $10,000 cash by Levine at the hearing — while awaiting his June 6 formal arraignment in county court.